Chapter Swag to Sweepstakes of S by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Swan of Avon (The), or Sweet Swan of Avon. Shakespeare is so called by Ben Jonson because his home was on the Avon. (1564-1616.)

Swan of Cambray (The). Fénelon, Archbishop of Cambray, and author of Telemachus. (1651-1715.)

Swan of Mantua (The), or The Mantuan Swan. Virgil, who was born at Mantua. (B. C. 70-29.)

Swan of Meander (The). Homer, who lived on the banks of the Meander, in Asia Minor. (Fl. B.C. 950.)

Swan of Padua (The). Count Francesco Algarotti. (1712-1764.)

Swans ... Geese All your swans are geese. All your fine promises or expectations have proved fallacious. “Hope told a flattering tale.” The converse, All your geese are swans, means all your children are paragons, and whatever you do is in your own eyes superlative work.

Swanimote A court held thrice a year before forest verderers by the steward of the court. So called because the swans or swains were the jurymen. (Swans, swans, or sweins, freeholders; Anglo-Saxon, swan or swein, a herdsman, shepherd, youth; our swain.)
    This court was incident to a forest, as the court of pie-powder or piepoudre to a fair.

Swarga The paradise of Indra, and also of certain deified mortals, who rest there under the shade of the five wonderful trees, drink the nectar of immortality called Amrita, and dance with the heavenly nymphs.

Swashbuckler A ruffian; a swaggerer. “From swashing,” says Fuller, “and making a noise on the buckler.” The sword-players used to “swash” or tap their shield, as fencers tap their foot upon the ground when they attack. (Worthies of England.) (A.D. 1662.) (See Swinge-Buckler. )

“A bravo, a swashbuckler, one that for money and good cheere will follow any man to defend him; but if any danger come, he runs away the first, and leaves him in the lurch.”- Florio.

Swear now means to take an oath, but the primitive sense is merely to aver or affirm; when to affirm on oath was meant, the word oath was appended, as “I swear by oath.” Shakespeare uses the word frequently in its primitive sense; thus Othello says of Desdemona-

“She swore, in faith, `twas strange, `twas passing strange.”
Othello, i. 3.

Swear Black is White (To). To swear to any falsehood.

Swear by my Sword (Hamlet, i. 5)- that is, “by the cross on the hilt of my sword.” Again in Winter's Tale, “Swear by this sword thou wilt perform my bidding” (ii. 3). Holinshed says, “Warwick kisses the cross of King Edward's sword, as it were a vow to his promise,” and Decker says, “He has sworn to me on the cross of his pure Toledo” (Old Fortunatus).

Sweat To sweat a client. To make him bleed; to fleece him.
   To sweat coin. To subtract part of the silver or gold by friction, but not to such an amount as to render the coin useless as a legal tender. The French use suer in the same sense, as “Suer son argent,” to sweat his money by usury. “Vous faites suer le bonhomme- tel est votre dire quand vous le pillez.” (Harangue du Capitaine la Carbonnade.) (1615.)

Sweating sickness appeared in England about a century and a half after the Black Death. (1485.) It broke out amongst the soldiers of Richmond's army, after the battle of Bosworth Field, and lasted five weeks. It was a violent inflammatory fever, without boils or ulcers. Between 1485 and 1529 there were five outbreaks of this pest in England, the first four being confined to England and France; but the fifth spread over Germany, Turkey, and Austria.

Swedenborgians, called by themselves “the New Jerusalem Church” (Rev. xxi. 2). Believers in the doctrines taught by Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). Their views of salvation, inspiration of Scripture, and a future state, differ widely from those of other Christians; and as to the Trinity, they believe it to be